Vancouver house market seems bouncing again in March 2009
REBGV release – The Metro Vancouver housing market experienced a movement away from volatility and toward stability to start the spring season.
Home sales in March 2009 returned to levels witnessed at the beginning of the decade, with 2,265 sales recorded across Metro Vancouver for the month, a 53% increase over February but a 24.4% decrease over March 2008, when 2,997 sales were recorded.
Since 1999, March sales have increased 31%, on average, over the month of February. March 2009 marks the second consecutive month that sales have outperformed the ten-year average for this month-over-month comparison.
“There’s more confidence in the housing market today than we were seeing late last year. Sales activity is rising to more typical levels given the season, and the number of homes being listed for sale is levelling off,” said Scott Russell, president of the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver (REBGV).
New residential listings on the MLS® declined 22.7% in March 2009 to 4,385 compared to March 2008. This is the fifth month in a row that new listings have decreased year-over-year and the third consecutive month where those declines exceeded 20%.
Despite these trends, total active listings at the end of March 2009 had still reached 14,579, a 19% increase compared to the end of March 2008.
“REALTORS® are seeing an increasing level of interest from first-time buyers who are attracted to low interest rates, good supply of housing, greater affordability, and a considerably lower overall cost of servicing a mortgage compared to recent years,” Russell said.
Sales of detached properties in March 2009 declined 19.6% to 897 from the 1,116 units sold during the same period in 2008. The benchmark price, as calculated by the MLSLink Housing Price Index®, for detached properties declined 15.1% from March 2008 to $649,342.
Sales of apartment properties declined 28.8% last month to 976, compared to the 1,370 sales in March 2008. The benchmark price of an apartment property declined 13.5% from March 2008 to $337,099.
Attached property sales in March 2009 decreased 23.3% to 392, compared with the 511 sales during the same month in 2008. The benchmark price of an attached unit declined 11.2% between March 2008 and 2009 to $420,563.
I do not know why people think the market is bouncing back. Real estate is not like the stock market. It goes down then it goes flat and then it goes down again or it may go up but not so soon my friends. Vancouver real estate will tank in one year. The winter games will just bankrupt us.
well, the market IS hot in march. i’ve been closely monitoring the market. the last 2-3 weeks see a sudden surge in sale volume. however, the price is still dropping. and that’s why stocks are going fast coz sellers eventually realize that if they still hang on to their ideal price their houses will sit there for another year.